Never throw out old sneakers again

You can turn them into a new pair of sandals.

Last year, a market research firm in San Jose, Calif., predicted the footwear industry would reach global annual sales of $195 billion by 2015, with people gradually increasing shoe spending as the economy improves.

But the researchers at Global Industry Analysts might want to sharpen their pencils and rethink their figures. Not because there are signs the economy is faltering, but because we're about to share a tip that will prevent people from throwing out their old tennis shoes.

Our tip comes from Donald Heffner, who can remember when people shoved pieces of cardboard in their shoes to repair worn-out soles during the Great Depression. He appreciates getting the most out of footwear.

So a couple years ago, the Macungie resident decided not to throw away an old pair off tennis shoes that were getting beat up but still had good soles. Instead, he took out the laces and cut out the tongue and toe of each sneaker with a utility knife.

"They're old sneakers," Don said. "I wouldn't do this to a new pair."

Now he has a perfectly good pair of slip-on sandals he's used for the past two years. They're easy to put on to go get the mail or for wearing in the house on cold winter days when the floor is cold.

"They work good," Don said. "Sometimes you need to go outside — you can easily put something on your feet."

Don shows off his invention in a demonstration video you can see at http://www.mcall.com/onthecheap.

We did some number-crunching in the On The Cheap lab and figure you could save $559.80 over 20 years by turning old sneakers into sandals instead of buying new slip-ons.

Don made his slip-ons out of an old pair of Avias, which are made by theBrown Shoe Co.in St. Louis. We reached out to the company, one of the largest shoe retailers in the country, to see if they knew about the after-market value of their products.

They never got back to us. Maybe they're busy selling off the company's sandal interests.